Selective Amnesia

Thought bubble series #3

Couple of thought I’ve been chewing on for about a week now…

It’s better to own brands than products. A product story is not half as interesting as a brand story. Pepsi ought to know. Theirs is the better product. Coke is the better brand.

– Between words and pictures, (not this one) – I prefer words. Obvious, you might say. But here’s the reason why. A word, any word, is open to many interpretations. It doesn’t impose upon the audience a specific interpretation like a picture does.

For instance – take something as simple as colours – say Green.

Green written on a piece of paper can be interpreted by many people as many things – trees by some, traffic lights by others, ivy and moss by even others and as a carpet by a few. The written/spoken word lends itself to be anything anybody wants. But a picture of green, any of the above green or other greens, immediately impose upon the viewer one person’s idea of green. A picture in that sense is limiting, it limits imagination. It limits choice. And that’s a bad thing to do.

Take the example further. Let’s take a specific example of green – Trees. The word tree on a piece of paper again can be many things for many people. For me, trees signify coconut palms. For some others, it could be the banyan. For a long-time friend, it’s a mango tree. But a picture of a tree immediately imposes the photographer’s interpretation on the viewer.